Geochemistry of the Neoproterozoic Narji limestone,Cuddapah Basin,Andhra Pradesh,India: implication on palaeoenvironment

The Neoproterozoic Narji Formation of Cuddapah Basin, Southern India is mainly composed of limestones with minor amount of clastic rocks. Limestones are massive as well as laminated and occasionally chert bearing. Geochemistry (major, trace, and REE) of limestones is studied to strengthen the knowledge on depositional environment of Narji Formation in the direction to better figure out the development of Cuddapah Basin during Neoproterozoic era. Average SiO₂ (25.97), Al₂O₃/TiO₂ (16.67), and K₂O/Al₂O₃ (0.21) ratios suggest clastic contamination in the Narji limestones. PAAS (Post Archean Australian Shale) normalized REE?+?Y pattern of Narji limestones are showing seawater like REE?+?Y pattern. The Er/Nd and Y/Ho ratios (average 0.17 and 35.68, respectively) of Narji limestones indicate the retention of normal seawater character with the signatures of terrigenous input and diagenesis process. Positive Ce anomaly, high U/Th (>?1.25), and V/(V?+?Ni) (>?0.5) ratios of Narji limestones clearly indicate their deposition in dyoxic to anoxic condition.     

Application of direct displacement based design to long span bridges

The paper investigates the applicability of current direct displacement based seismic design (DDBD) procedure, developed by Priestley and his coworkers, for straight long span bridges under transverse seismic excitation synchronous to all supports. This category of bridges often possess some additional features such as massive tall piers, highly irregular distribution of mass and stiffness due to unequal superstructure spans and pier heights, large deformation capacity etc. that are absent in short-to-moderate span bridges for which DDBD has extensively been verified. It is shown that DDBD in its current form is unable to capture both displacement and base shear demand when compared with nonlinear dynamic analysis results. Accordingly, a simple mechanics based extension of the current procedure that takes into account the effect of pier mass while computing base shear demand as well as a modal combination rule for estimating displacement demand is proposed and validated using a series of parametric studies. The new procedure also allows engineer to allocate strength at the potential plastic hinge location in more general terms.     

Modification of the spontaneous emission of quantum dots near the surface of a three-dimensional colloidal photonic crystal

This paper demonstrates experimentally and numerically that a significant modification of spontaneous emission rate can be achieved near the surface of a three-dimensional photonic crystal. In experiments, semiconductor core-shell quantum dots are intentionally confined in a thin polymer film on which a three-dimensional colloidal photonic crystal is fabricated. The spontaneous emission rate of quantum dots is characterised by conventional and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The modification of the spontaneous emission rate, which is reflected in the change of spectral shape and PL lifetime, is clearly observed. While an obvious increase in the PL lifetime is found at most wavelengths in the band gap, a significant reduction in the PL lifetime by one order of magnitude is observed at the short-wavelength band edge. Numerical simulation reveals a periodic modulation of spontaneous emission rate with decreasing modulation strength when an emitter is moved away from the surface of the photonic crystal. It is supported by the fact that the modification of spontaneous emission rate is not pronounced for quantum dots distributed in a thick polymer film where both enhancement and suppression are present simultaneously. This finding provides a simple and effective way for improving the performance of light emitting devices.     

HE 1127–1304: the largest radio quasar

By considering the propagation of low-amplitude magnetohydrodynamic waves in partially ionized plasmas, it is shown that the ion-neutral drift (ambipolar diffusion) induced by the waves can have specific effects on the molecular chemistry of cold material. The chemistry occurring in gas swept by Alfvén waves is described and it is shown that this leads to spatial variations in the deuterium fractionation ratios of, for example, HCO⁺ and N₂H⁺, on spatial scales of a few hundredths of a parsec, depending upon the fractional ionization of the ambient medium. The possibility of detecting interstellar Alfvén waves by molecular spectroscopy and their effect of producing small-scale chemical abundance gradients in molecular clouds are briefly discussed.     

Geomorphic interpretation of the Landsat images in Tamilnadu

Landsat imagery were used to interpret the geomorphic festures in the northern part of Tamilnadu between latitudes 11° and 12°30′ N and longitudes 77° and 80° E. Different geomorphic regions were identified with the aid of ground truths. These geomorphic regions, in general, are controlled by the underlying rock types. As the different geomorphic regions have different signatures in the Landsat images, the geomorphic interpretation, which helps to bring out the regional geology is possible with the aid of ground truths.     

Stability Dependence of the Eddy-Accumulation Coefficients for Momentum and Scalars

From a set of turbulence data collected with a three-axis sonic anemometer/thermometer and described in a companion paper, we simulate the eddy-accumulation process for sensible heat and momentum fluxes. The resulting eddy-accumulation coefficient for momentum clearly depends on surface-layer stability; at neutral stability, its value is 0.63. On supplementing the scalar eddy-accumulation coefficients that we derive from our sensible heat flux data with values of sensible and latent heat flux coefficients reported by Businger and Oncley, we also find that scalar eddy-accumulation coefficients depend on stability, though more weakly than does the momentum coefficient. The coefficients for sensible and latent heat show no significant difference; we, thus, fit them with one function of stability whose value is 0.52 for neutral stratification.